My VERY limited understanding is, the problem isn't "overcharging" exactly. It's that Li-Ion batteries are weird. They last longest when charged between 50% and 80% - as opposed to 100%. But bad news: maintaining the battery at a level below 20% is just as bad as keeping it at 100% if not worse, so...leaving it out really isn't a good solution either.
What we REALLY need is a switch or setting in the laptop that will cause a 100% charge when you know you'll need more battery life soon, otherwise the default charge level is maintained at around 75%. But that would confoose too many people...might be a good FOSS project for geeks though?
Failing that, the best solution is to leave it in there. Yes, the battery will slowly degrade. But, at least you have protection from a sudden crash if you accidentally the power plug :(. If you can afford it, run two batteries - swapping once every week or two (or however long it takes for it to naturally drain to about 50%), with the one about to go on the shelf being deliberately drained to about 80% first.
Jim
On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Robert Holtzman
<holtzm@cox.net> wrote:
For the record, I'm running a Lenovo T420i with a 6 cell battery.
In the past I've been told that it's bad practice to run a laptop on AC
with the battery installed because it would cause reduced battery
capacity. This raises two questions. First, is it true that laptop
batteries don't have overcharge protection, and second, how many cycles
is a battery like mine good for?
--
Bob Holtzman
If you think you're getting free lunch,
check the price of the beer.
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